Disaster-Preparedness Must Replace Response-Oriented Approach, Speakers Tell Round Table on Enhancing Adaptive Capacity, Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change
AWAZA, TURKMENISTAN (6 August) — "There are no natural disasters; all disasters are human-induced," underscored an expert at the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries today.
Opha Pauline Dube, Professor at the University of Botswana and Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was speaking at a round-table discussion held this afternoon on "Enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and addressing vulnerability to climate change and disasters in landlocked developing countries".
She was among several speakers who urged the international community to shift from a response-oriented approach to disaster-preparedness. This means climate-proofing infrastructure rather than focusing on how to react when the disaster happens. She also stressed the importance of integrating Sustainable Development Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions into climate change adaptation. It is crucial to take into account the voices of local communities who are impacted and build social safety nets.
While acknowledging the need for technology transfer, she said it is also essential to groom local technology and boost local innovation. There should be incubators to develop climate adaptation technologies locally. Noting that "chemistry and chemical engineering was the basis of the fossil fuel industry," she added that it is crucial to focus that discipline on saving lives and the environment.
Importance of Realistic Strategies to Share Costs, Benefits of Climate Action
"I would dare say the goals of the Paris Agreement are unachievable if countries do it just at the national level," Dmitry Mariyasin, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said. "We need to build strategies that are realistic when it comes to sharing costs and benefits and attracting international climate finance," he said.
Noting that the global climate crisis often manifests itself through water shortage or abundance of water where it is not needed, he said the climate crisis "is almost a water crisis". Sustainable water management is indispensable to building resilience, especially when several countries share rivers. Over 60 per cent of the world’s freshwater resources are shared by more than two countries. Noting that his Commission hosts the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes — also known as the Global Boundary Water Convention — he said it has 56 parties to date, of which nine are landlocked developing countries, and called on all other landlocked developing countries to join.
Population of 560 Million in Landlocked Developing Countries Hardest Hit by Climate Change
The round table also featured representatives of several landlocked developing countries. In his keynote address, Tangryguly Atahallyyev, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan said: "Five hundred sixty million people live in landlocked developing countries. It is in these countries that climate challenges are most acutely felt." His country has ratified all key international climate documents, including the Paris Agreement, and is implementing several environmental projects with the support of the Green Climate Fund, among others. Turkmenistan recently joined the Global Methane Commitment, he said, also highlighting the Regional Centre for Climate Technologies in Ashgabat, as well as the National Programme on the Aral Sea. The country’s National Forest Programme has carried out a large-scale greening of the country, planting millions of trees annually. "You can personally observe the results of this greening in the tourist zone of Awaza," he pointed out.
Calls for Sustainable Climate Finance, True Access to Loss and Damage Fund
"For Bhutan, the urgency could not be greater," Dina Nath Dungyel, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of that country, who co-chaired the panel, said. He described the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, where glaciers are retreating, warmer seasons are lengthening, and flash floods are striking with growing frequency. His country has chosen an "environmentally conscious path guided by the philosophy of gross national happiness", he said. It is investing in hydropower and other climate-friendly measures. He called for enhanced and simplified access to climate finance. While the loss and damage fund is encouraging, "its impact depends on true accessibility", he said. He also called for a dedicated landlocked developing countries work programme under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Sergiu Lazarencu, Minister for Environment of the Republic of Moldova, said his Government has integrated adaptation, disaster risk reduction and environmental sustainability into multiple sectors. The country has been strengthening its legal and institutional framework to ensure this, he said, and it is also committed to building resilience in energy systems and natural resource governance. Highlighting the importance of community-based climate action plans, he said a growing number of municipalities are implementing local adaptation plans, thus improving their capacity to access climate finance. He also echoed the call for sustainable and predictable funding. The Republic of Moldova is exploring innovative finance models from green bonds to results-based financing. For his country, "resilience is not a defensive posture, it is a sustainable path for growth", he underscored.
Michael Bizwick Usi, Vice-President of Malawi, who also co-chaired the panel, said that Tropical Cyclone Freddie, which struck his country in 2023, remains "an aching reminder of our vulnerability to climate-induced disasters". Nature-based solutions are at the heart of the country’s climate strategy. Malawi is investing in climate-smart agriculture and is mainstreaming a disaster risk management approach into all policies. However, access to climate finance remains a barrier, he said, as he called for the full operationalization of the loss and damage fund — a crucial lifeline for landlocked developing countries facing irreversible climate change impact. Further, countries such as his struggle to meet the complex procedural requirements required to access such funds, he said, requesting international financial institutions to simplify access mechanisms.
That point was echoed by Natalia Alonso Cano, Chief of the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. International financial institutions and development partners should expand concessional financing, promote warranties and insurance schemes to enhance the credit worthiness of landlocked developing countries and simplify accreditation processes so they can access multilateral funds. Securing finance is not the entire solution, she said, adding that landlocked developing countries also need to build technical capacity to translate funds into action. Stressing that resilience is not just a necessity for those countries, "it is an investment in global prosperity and sustainability", she said the Awaza Programme of Action offers an "unparalleled opportunity to break the cycle of reactive disaster response by embedding risk-informed decision-making at every level of development".
Key Role of Private Sector
Johann Saathoff, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, remembered the first time he experienced a flood in his country and how it changed the idea that catastrophes occur elsewhere. Germany is the largest contributor to the Green Climate Fund. Highlighting the key role of the private sector, he said it is essential to unlock private capital for landlocked developing countries and put in place enabling policies and targeted incentives that encourage private sector investment mechanisms. The importance of capacity-building must be addressed at the institutional and systemic levels of Government. "This ensures that the capacity is anchored in institutions and processes, and not dependent on individuals," he said, helping ensure that capacity-building efforts are not diverted even when individual staff members move on professionally.
In the interactive discussion that followed, the representatives of several developing countries echoed the call for the operationalization of the loss and damage fund. Among them wasBurundi’s delegate who stressed that countries with lower institutional capacity must be able to access this fund. His country’s rural economy is heavily dependent on rainfall, and recurrent droughts and floods have impacted agriculture, he pointed out, adding that "climate solidarity is not only a moral imperative but a requisite for our collective survival".
While the global average temperature has risen by 1.1 °C, Armenia, that country’s delegate said, has experienced a 1.6 °C increase in average temperature. Some parts of the country are experiencing desertification and land degradation, and in 2024, extreme rainfall caused flooding in the north of his country. He also noted that landlocked developing countries must be able to benefit from marine genetic resources, which are especially crucial for halting biodiversity loss.
High Disaster Mortality Rate in Landlocked Developing Countries
Niger’s delegate said that between 2013 and 2023, landlocked developing countries recorded a disaster mortality rate well above the global average. Noting that his country’s roads, bridges and transport corridors are regularly damaged by extensive flooding and droughts, he said that every climate shock represents a direct setback to Niger’s development. At the same time, the country has significant reserves of critical minerals — "we need win-win cooperation to process these resources locally" and strengthen energy independence, he said.
Indonesia’s delegate pointed out that "whether surrounded by sea or isolated by land", many developing countries share the experience of being deeply vulnerable to climate change. These parallel crises call for strategic solidarity, he said.
Donor Countries Outline Priorities
A number of donor countries also spoke, outlining their priority areas. "Every person on Earth should be protected from hazardous water and weather events," Sweden’s delegate said. His country is one of the most generous donors of international climate finance, he said. The international community must ensure the participation of landlocked developing countries in the green and digital transformation.
The representative of Switzerland drew attention to his country’s financial support for the Green Climate Fund — the world’s largest climate fund. Switzerland "is advocating access to funds for the most vulnerable and fragile countries", he said, also noting his country’s support for Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems — also known as CREWS — which enables landlocked developing countries and least developed countries to identify weather and climate risks more effectively and disseminate this information in a timely manner.
Ireland’s delegate said it is crucial to ensure that climate adaption planning is integrated into national planning and funding mechanisms. His country directly supports a number of national initiatives aimed at this. Ireland has contributed financially to the development of early warning systems, he said, noting its support for the Systematic Observations Financing Facility, a financing mechanism that works with countries with the most severe shortfalls in climate observations, prioritizing the least developed countries and small island developing States. Finland’s delegate underscored the need for gender-responsiveness in climate adaption, pointing out that climate change exacerbates existing inequalities and reduces women’s access to safety and services.